The Axis of Evil

It seems that some saw me as one who (gasp) trusted the pharmaceutical companies to do something good. Has Dr. Rob lost (what's left of) his mind?? Drug companies do everything with themselves in mind, and there are always strings attached. They can't be trusted. They are evil. Doesn't Dr. Rob realize that?

Clearly our problems would be solved if we could only rid ourselves of these evildoers. Clearly the moral fiber of those leading the pharmaceutical and insurance industries are suspect at best. Come on, simply being included on the same list as the members of congress is witness to our opinion of their morality, right?

No, actually.

OK, now it seems obvious that Dr. Rob has either gotten into some funny mushrooms or is accepting cash payments by the above mentioned evildoers. How could anyone look at what these people do to our system, what they take out of that system and put in their own bank accounts, and not call them evil?

I don't disagree that many things that come out of each of these groups is very destructive to Americans. But consider what task each of these groups performs:

Pharma - To design and sell drugs that treat or cure diseases.

Insurance companies - To remove the immediate impact of the high cost of healthcare and make it more manageable for people requiring care.

Congress - To make laws and design systems for the best interests of the citizens of our country.

All of these tasks are not only not bad, they are actually necessary. We would be worse off without them. So if the underlying tasks of these industries are not what make these groups do things that harm us, then what goes wrong? It must be the people, right?

No, actually.

I do agree that there are people in each group making decisions that help themselves and harm others, but I don't think they are unique. Human nature drives us to self-preservation and self-promotion at the expense of others. Perhaps it's survival of the fittest, or perhaps it's original sin, but the reality is that people everywhere act this way. We are deluded to expect that people with an open opportunity to profit at the expense of others would always shun that opportunity.

Read history, folks.

It is far too easy to hide behind moral condemnation. The folks on the right side of the political stadium are famous for portraying the left as evildoers, but the people on the Left are just as quick to condemn CEO's, religious leaders, and talk-radio personalities as being evil. We all like to look down on others as evildoers, seeing the replacement of these scoundrels with someone moral (like us) as the cure for any woes our system faces. Doing so is not only simplistic, it nearly eliminates any chance of working together on things, and it gives them license to call us evil when we get our chance in power.

As a doctor, I am one of the targets of the evil label. How could we doctors become rich off of others pain? How could we have our enormous salaries when our system is going down. Clearly we need doctors who are morally upright. Hearing such accusations makes me want to lash back. I see what good I do in my situation and see how others stand in the way of my doing more good. I want to jump up and down, point, and scream at the axis of evil as being the root of the problem, not me! And what would these groups do in return? They vilify us greedy doctors.

I will admit that I am very set on maintaining my present lifestyle and bettering it if at all possible. That's pretty normal, isn't it? True, I have resisted the temptation to choose a more lucrative specialty; I don't whiz 40 patients through my office each day; and I don't do procedures in my office to make extra money off of my patients. Yes, those are moral choices for me. But these choices get harder each year with the ratcheting down of reimbursement and the growing hostility toward doctors. It's tempting to say, "Screw them, I am just going to take care of myself and open a boutique medicine clinic. I can have no pressure, more time with patients, no insurance headaches, and a much nicer lifestyle." Many have made this choice, and I personally don't blame them. They aren't evil either.

The problem is not the morality of the people in the system, it's the system itself. Pharma has been given the ability to set exorbitant prices, maintain patents for very long periods of time, and even gouge once medicines become generic. The system has been set up to encourage this, and they are simply doing what they are allowed to do. Insurance companies are under huge pressures for quarterly profits by their shareholders, and so are required to milk the maximum dollar from the system. They are allowed to do this as well. Congressmen and women are allowed to make a career out of being a politician, are not really accountable for the money they accept from special interest, and have all sorts of other rules to make it hard to stand on principle. We have set up our system that way.

I don't think it's wrong to condemn the practices of these groups, nor do I think doctors shouldn't be revealed for any unethical practices. The world is better when people play nicely. But we need to hop off of our pulpits, put down our torches, and put away the scarlet letters that conveniently put the blame on others. This is not the problem of others, it is our problem. We are the ones with the power to change these things.

There is one catch: we must work with those evildoers over there to get anything meaningful done.